A federal trial challenging the U.S. Naval Academy’s practice of considering race in admitting students will begin Monday morning in downtown Baltimore, marking the latest effort by an anti-affirmative-action group to eliminate race-conscious policies in higher education.

Students For Fair Admissions sued the Annapolis-based Naval Academy, arguing that its admissions policies are unlawful and discriminate against white and Asian applicants. That same group was behind landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina that struck down policies to boost minority enrollment, changing the way selective colleges and universities across the country choose their students.

The ruling exempted military academies but left open the possibility of future legal challenges. Within months, Students for Fair Admissions filed lawsuits against both the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy, seeking to eliminate exceptions for military schools. The case against the Naval Academy is the first to go to trial.

How does the Naval Academy factor race in its admissions?

The Naval Academy requires applicants to identify their ethnicity, race and cultural heritage in an online form but says it only considers those factors in limited circumstances. It bases admissions decisions on a number of criteria, including academic achievement, participation in extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, leadership potential, interest in math and science, socioeconomic status and whether the applicant is the first in their family to go to college.

“Most candidates are unaffected by the consideration of race,” lawyers for the Naval Academy wrote in court filings.

The newly enrolled Class of 2028 includes 642 white students, 178 Hispanic Americans, 132 Asian Americans, 70 African Americans and four Native Americans among a class of nearly 1,200.

“One does not need to conduct a statistical analysis to see the obvious,” the lawyers wrote. “Despite the Naval Academy’s substantial efforts to increase the number of minority students over time ... the number of minority students in every class, and in particular Black American and Hispanic students, falls far short of reflecting the nation’s racial and ethnic demographics.”

What is Students for Fair Admissions arguing?

Students for Fair Admissions and its leader, Edward Blum, say that the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision should apply to military academies.

They claim that the the Naval Academy “manipulates admissions outcomes” to achieve a class of midshipmen that mirrors the racial makeup of the U.S. population, which unfairly disadvantages white and Asian students and violates their Fifth Amendment right to equal protection.

“The Academy has no justification for using race-based admissions,” the group’s lawyers wrote in court filings. “Those admissions are unconstitutional for all other public institutions of higher education.”

What is the Naval Academy’s response?

The Naval Academy said it should be treated differently than Harvard and the University of North Carolina because of its role in protecting the nation. “Unlike civilian universities, USNA prepares students for war,” its lawyers wrote.

In court filings, lawyers argued that racial diversity is required for national security because it fosters cohesion, helps with recruiting and retaining talent and boosts the legitimacy of the military to the nation and the world.

“Based on more than two centuries of military history, decades of combat experience and internal and external analyses, the most senior leaders in the Armed Forces have repeatedly concluded that a more diverse officer corps makes a more effective force,” lawyers wrote.

Why did the Supreme Court give military schools an exception?

Buried in a footnote of the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling was a caveat: The decision did not apply to military academies.

Chief Justice John Roberts explained that military schools might have “distinct interests” from other colleges and universities, though he did not elaborate on what those were. He added that because service academies were not parties to the 2023 case, the court could not address “the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context.”

How will the trial proceed?

The trial will take place in Baltimore at the U.S. District Court for Maryland and is expected to last two weeks. Judge Richard Bennett, appointed to the federal bench in 2003 by President George W. Bush, will decide the case without the assistance of a jury.

What’s at stake?

In December, Bennett denied a bid from Students for Fair Admissions to temporarily bar the Naval Academy from considering race while the lawsuit was awaiting trial. In his reasoning, Bennett emphasized that “great focus must be placed on a footnote in the Harvard opinion,” noting the unique interests of military academies.

Jonathan Feingold, an associate professor at Boston University’s School of Law who focuses on affirmative-action education law, cautioned that the December ruling does not necessarily foretell how Bennett might rule at trial. If the Naval Academy prevails, Students for Fair Admissions will likely appeal and hope to bring the case before the Supreme Court’s conservative majority.

“This Supreme Court majority is the first court since before Brown v. Board of Education that has had this much of an appetite to strike down policies that are meant to promote integration or inclusion,” Feingold said. “I have to assume that [Students for Fair Admissions] are prepared to take it all the way, in part because they think they might reach a receptive Supreme Court.”

If the Naval Academy loses, it’s not clear what the impact would be on its enrollment. Black student enrollment declined at both Harvard and North Carolina following the Supreme Court’s ruling, though outcomes have varied at other elite colleges.